15 March 2017

Car rental company to invest €120k in Crosscare

Car rental company Enterprise Rent-A-Car will invest €120,000 in social support agency Crosscare over the next six years to help fight food poverty in Ireland, writes Trish Whelan.

Crosscare has already received the first of the six €20,000 annual donations. This money will help increase its capacity to redistribute surplus food to people in need throughout the country and to supply the charity's cafes.

According to the Department of Social Protection, 13.1pc of the Irish population experienced food poverty in 2014.

Dublin-based Crosscare operates food banks which distribute food to those most in need. It also provides a range of social care, homeless services, community and youth work. Its work is not confined to the Dublin area as its food bank operation provides much needed food supplies to hundreds of organisations in need.

These food banks collect surplus food products from food producers, supermarkets, farms etc and then distribute the donated products to charities across the country living in food poverty. The organisation accepts various items, from frozen foods to household and personal care products.

Conor Hickey, CEO of Crosscare said in the immediate term, the current donation will be used to purchase a refrigerated vehicle to help transport food to those most in need.

George O'Connor, Managing Director, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Ireland said 'as an organisation with 25 branches across the country, supporting the communities where we operate is a vital part of the Enterprise culture. "In particular it is an honour to be able to make this donation on our company's 20th anniversary in business in Ireland and 60th anniversary globally.

The donation is part of a wider initiative by the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation called Fill Your Tank which has been designed to celebrate the company's 60th global anniversary this year and its two decades in Ireland.

As part of this initiative, the company will provide US$60 million over the next six years to address food insecurity in the countries where it has wholly-owned business operations in Europe and North America.